PODI ~ A New All-Day Breakfast & Grill Restaurant At Raffles City Shopping Centre

If you've visited Raffles City Shopping Centre over the weekend, you might have noticed PODI, a new restaurant located by the main fountain at the basement level. Just opened last Friday, it's brought to us by The Bakery Depot, the same folks behind Cedele, Toss & Turn and P.L.T Sandwiches. The menu at PODI offers all-day breakfast and grills at affordable pricing. Pure.Offbeat.Delicious.Infuions. - That's what PODI has set itself out to be.

Ambience at PODI is casual and relaxed with a spacious area for dining in, as well as a retail counter for quick takeaways. Coffee is freshly grinded and roasted by Smitten, tea lovers will be happy with the range of specialty loose-leaf tea.

The pre-launch media tasting saw us trying a few of their signature dishes, including Baked Egg Pot, a hearty breakfast item of eggs with chorizo and goat cheese baked in tomato sauce. This is a potential dish with runny eggs and tangy appetite whetting sauce, if only better quality chorizo are used and distinct flavor of goat cheese was more apparent.  

Duck Berry Waffles features an interesting combination of the sweet and savory, with a competently executed duck confit served with blueberry compote and maple syrup, but I prefer my waffle to be fluffier and crispy instead of hard.

I would give my stamp of approval to the warm Stuffed French Toast, a combination of nicely browned spinach brioche with eggs, smoked ham, and soft brie cheese. It looked unassuming but smelled fragrant and tasted delightful. Lovely!

Our table also shared bowls of Shoestring Fries, which were tossed in either flavors of Seaweed Nori or Truffle Oil. For once, I restrained myself successfully in having more, which wasn't really that difficult.

What was better worth the calories were the Beetroot Carpaccio and Prawn & Crab Spinach Salad because they tasted so good! Anyway, they're not that high in calories but the dishes are what I would enjoy even if I'm not watching my diet.

The beetroot were presented carpaccio-style, and topped with cherry tomatoes and cheese with a drizzle of balsamic basil oil. The salad was equally light and refreshing, with crunchy grilled prawns, baby spinach and slivers of crabmeat tied together beautifully with a dressing of peppermint and lemon vinaigrette.

Next, we moved on to the mains which offers a selection of meat and seafood cooked on an open grill. The Chicken Pot looked promising with two chunks of grilled chicken thigh simmered in a pastry pot with potatoes and seasonal vegetables, but was let down by the meat which tasted frozen and lacking in marination, otherwise, it really spells comfort food in a pot.

I feel sad for the cow which died to became Argentina Sirloin Steak for us, as the toughness of medium doneness did poor justice to it. If given a choice, medium-rare would have been much preferred. Served with sauces including mustard cream or chimichurri and add-ons such as confit of onion and slow-cooked tomatoes.

The King Prawn with Herb Butter is first baked in garlic, butter, cheese, herbs and orange rind, before given a finish on the grill. What might have gone right, had went wrong with the prawn's unappealing mushy texture. Spicy Prawn Konbu Pasta, a hearty linguine aglio olio tossed with spicy prawns, konbu and prawn oil, was a tad oily but fared much better in comparison.

Desserts were Whoopie Pie, a two cake-like cookies with a creamy, orange earl grey flavored filling, and Mexican Spiced Hat, made of Nigella-spiced meringue thins with a choice of 2 scoops of in-house ice cream flavors. Pretty, but failed to excite beyond that.

Reasonable pricing makes a meal at PODI affordable. Breakfast items ranges from $15 to $18 and grilled mains are at $14 to $24. Though most of the food leaves much to be desired, there are still winners in items like the Stuffed French Toast. The restaurant is still in its infancy phase and some tweaking done will hopefully have it seeing improvements soon.

Thanks to The Bakery Depot for this invitation.


PODI
Address: Raffles City Shopping Centre, #B1-45, Singapore 179103
Contact: +65 63365648
Website: www.podifood.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/PODI/442930269148726?fref=ts
Opening Hours: Weekdays 10am-10pm / Weekends & PH 9am-10pm / Retail 8am-10pm